TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

Being eco-friendly and having a social conscience helps attract the best labour, says Susan Gray

SKILL and staff shortages allow job hunters to be choosy about the companies they keep. But when even the doyenne of corporate responsibility, Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, describes beauty products as "pap", how do you see through the public relations, papaya and ylang ylang gloss to pick a truly ethical employer?

People prefer to work for well-regarded organisations that do some good in the world. Companies want the most talented applicants to be drawn to them, so it is small wonder employers put so much effort into appearing socially responsible.

Invitations to a company-sponsored performance or exhibition are now an established part of the graduate recruitment process, as are opportunities to do voluntary work, such as advising on business startups in deprived areas, in the firm's time.

At the volume end of the employment market, supermarket and betting-shop chains are also wearing their hearts on their sleeves to secure the best local labour.

"Companies want to be employers of first choice," says Chris Crowcroft of arts sponsorship consultancy Crowcroft and Partners, whose clients include Glaxo Wellcome and BT.

While one local supermarket or bookmaker will be much the same as the other in terms of wages and work, the brand with the most active community profile attracts the best staff.

Crowcroft advises clients to support only causes and events that are an excellent fit with business aims, as this maintains enthusiasm from shareholders and the board to the shop floor.

BT's sponsorship of poetry, youth arts and music fits in with the company's business of communication, and also serves to fix BT affectionately in the life of the nation, differentiating it from newer entrants to the telecoms market.

Andrew Robinson, head of community development banking, NatWest/ Royal Bank of Scotland, agrees that bolt-on ethical activities are unsustainable: "Companies won't meet pressing social needs so long as profit and growth are subordinate goals.

"Managers who might personally like to develop more pro-social and pro-environmental policies and products are constrained. They cannot give such things higher priority than the bottom line, or they may find themselves out of work."

Instead, Robinson argues, companies should stimulate consumers' desire for ethical products and services, then there will be a market which organisations can fulfil profitably, while behaving responsibly at the same time.

Courting "active consumers" - concerned about everything from the local community to global warming and child labour - is the best guarantee of an organisation's good behaviour.

Indications of a company's good intentions are no longer revealed in the donations section of the company report, but in their customer base.

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